I'm Laura Norton, and this is one strange thing.

The show where we search the nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained.

Thank you. This week, we have something just a little different.

The world of weird is wide, and this one struck us as soon as we saw it.

We kept coming back to the story, and that's a sign to us that it's worth sharing with you. Now, on to the good stuff. It's safe to say that in American

pop culture, New Jersey has often gotten a bad rap. Sure, we all know about the beer bongs and the bumpets and the spray tans of the Jersey

Shore, but at this point, even Google has gotten in on it.

Enter a simple search for Why Does New Jersey?

And the search engine suggests you finish up with smell so bad.

Other options include the similar, stink, have a bad reputation,

and the riveting, not let you pump your own gas.

However fun the smack talk is, it's not really fair.

After all, we're talking about the garden state, not the garbage state.

There's plenty to offer in Jersey's townships or towns as outsiders would call them.

Take Montgomery over in Somerset County.

As far as state popularity contest go,

it consistently ranks as homecoming queen. On list after list of family-friendly places,

best suburbs in Jersey, finest school districts, highest property values, Montgomery is there.

As a side note, they've apparently got a killer trick or trunk situation happening each Halloween.

It's mentioned in more than one write-up.

And that's just the start.

According to the Country Classics blog, there's a turkey trot, a Christmas tree lighting, community centers,

...